A Champion's Call
by Escae
Summary: A complete novelization BOTW. Link crawls out of the Shrine of Resurrection, into a strange new country, where a great Calamity destroyed its legacy a century ago. The only one left who can stop it, Link dons his trusty tunic and sets off to right the wrongs of a broken people. (Current chapters are only a preview: Please tell me what you think!)
1. Chapter 1

**A Champion's Call**

 **By Escae**

 **Hello, welcome to my newest story. I know, I know, I've been slacking off on updates to HA. But I promise to keep up with both fics as well as I can. This story is a novelization of my complete adventure playing Breath of the Wild for the first time. The author's notes will be fewer and smaller because of the more solemn mood of this story. Anyways, enjoy, and review as always!**

Darkness.

An unending void occupying my every thought and emotion, drowning out everything with its limitless expanse.

Then, a light. And a voice.

They pierced the darkness with a flash, and the golden glow came pouring out from in front of me.

"Link."

That was… me. My name. Link. I couldn't take my eyes off the light and the voice. They chased the darkness away, bringing hope and life into the cold void.

"Open your eyes."

I did. The light faded, and darkness returned, but not the unending black that had been before. It was a… cooler darkness, accompanied by dim blue lights. A dizzying sensation suddenly came over me, and the lights unfocused once again. On instinct, I sat up, to find myself wearing only undergarments in a glowing pool. Slowly regaining control of my limbs, I clambered out of the pool and took a look around, still dripping water on the floor. The air was pleasantly cool, I thought, as I inspected a smooth pedestal in the corner of the room.

The voice spoke again, clearer and more pronounced. "That is a Sheikah Slate. It will guide you to where you need to go."

I paused, waiting for more, but the voice was silent once again. I tentatively lifted it off the pedestal, causing a blue eye symbol to appear accompanied by a soft activation chime. On the small flat screen was a vast expanse of a black grid, with a yellow arrow in the center. Looking at the arrow for a second yielded the helpful tip, "Current Location." Ah. So this Sheikah Slate was a navigational tool.

I jerked my head up involuntarily after a loud clank and rumble shook me out of my musings. The wall in front of me, opposite the pool, was separating down the middle to reveal another room beyond, and the faint shine of sunlight at the far end. Two stone chests sat amidst several wooden crates and barrels. I opened them to find a worn pair of pants and equally old shirt. They seemed to fit, so I donned them, despite being ridden with mothballs and stray threads.

A short distance in front of me was a short stone rock face, just slightly taller than myself. I jumped a short distance up, and used small handholds to climb the rest of the way. Rolling onto the upper level, I saw more clearly what was outside. Energized with the thought of fresh air, I walked briskly toward the exit, then broke into a run. Smiling, elated, I burst out into the world and ran up to the edge of a small cliff, the world spread out before me.

Magnificent pines. Rolling grass. Flourishing plant and animal life. On the surface, this new land I had emerged in seemed like a paradise, until I looked closer. A ruined temple stood crumbling to the northeast. Similar stone monuments to some ancient civilization rotted across the land, only semblances of their former glory. I had not stumbled into some natural paradise, but an overgrown, post-apocalyptic ruin of a time long past.

Continuing my sweeping gaze across the scene, my eyes caught on a crackling campfire several paces away. Seated by it, his face obscured my the hood, sat an old man. His slightly regal stature gave no indication of age, but his tumbling white beard and wooden cane said otherwise. Sensing no hostility from the other, I began walking toward him, breathing in the scents and sounds of this new-but-old country as I went.

As I approached down the inclined hill, the old man stood and acknowledged my approach, silently looking me over and calculating my appearance. Some sliver of modesty within me was glad that… place had contained some clothes. Maybe the voice had put them there, or whoever brought me to the room in the first place. Judging by the sealed door and aging state of the clothes, I must have been inside for a long while. Who knows? Maybe I was a part of the ancient civilization whose memories are so prominent in this landscape. Hopefully the voice and this man would have some answers.

 **I hope you enjoyed this preview or prologue of sorts. I plan for this to be quite a long story, so HA has update priority over this. Check out said story if you're into that, and please follow and review, even though there's not much to comment on yet. Stick around, though, I'm sure you'll like it once I add more to it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back. I just slapped a new chapter onto HA, so why not read that when you're done? Otherwise, please review as usual! Dialogue is not exactly as it is In the game, BTW, because where would be the originality in that?**

"Ah," said the old man, his beard bouncing under the reddish-brown hood. "So you've finally returned."

"What?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly. I probably hadn't talked in a while. "Returned from where?"

He gave me a strange look, his eyes flashing in the deep recesses of the cloak. "So you really don't remember…" he said under his breath.

"I really don't," I replied. "Where is this place?"

"A good place to begin," he nodded. "This is the Great Plateau, an isolated and elevated plot of land rising above the rest of greater Hyrule."

So, this place was called Hyrule. And I was on an island of sorts.

"As you can tell, this place has seen a lot of wear over the years," he continued. "See that temple, across the clearing? It used to be so elegant and majestic, but now it's fallen into disrepair."

It was very much in need of repair, I thought. The whole structure was a uniform gray, brick pillars impossible to distinguish from wooden walls.

"Perhaps you will remember more if you venture inside," the man suggested cryptically. I waited for him to elaborate, but he just sat down with the help of his cane and stared coldly into the campfire.

Realizing the temple was my best (and only) option, I began striding down the hill, collecting several tree branches along the way. The breeze whistled in the leaves, birds sang beautifully in the boughs, a strange orange creature snorted from its disgustingly large nose…

Hold on, what? I quickly crouched in the tall grass, sensing hostile intentions seeping from this creature. It turned around, looking directly at me, but thankfully didn't see me in the grass. It was a peculiar thing, about three-quarters of my height, It was hunched over, holding a short club. It's unnaturally bright eyes and skin confirmed my beliefs that this creature did not belong here, accompanied by the emanating _wrongness_ of its presence.

My quiet observation was broken, however, when the orange pig-nosed creature noticed my crouching form. It snorted and let out a battle cry before cycling its legs as fast as it could to reach me. I hurriedly grabbed the only item I had to defend myself… a tree branch, bringing it up just in time to block the brutal attack by the creature's club.

Unfortunately, this block cost me my weapon, as its feeble durability caused it to shatter immediately into a thousand pieces. I cursed inwardly and drew my second and last tree branch, going on the offensive this time. The only thing working in my favor here was that this creature seemed remarkably stupid.

I cracked the tree branch against its skull with as much strength as I could muster, bearing a hit by the club with a grunt due to my inability to block. That was going to bruise for sure. Eventually, my relentless offense overcame the creature's more powerful weapon, and it collapsed to the ground in a heap right as my second branch shattered. The creature tumbled a few feet down the hill before exploding into a cloud of black and violet smoke, revealing a neat stack of loot once it dissipated.

A horn, tooth and claw were my battle rewards, as well as the creature's wooden club. It's battle capability and durability were still very small compared to actual weapons, but were still exponentially better than my branches. Swinging the crude tool over my shoulders, I continued toward the temple, more cautious of the road ahead this time.

After defeating several more of the creatures in a similar fashion and taking their weapons for my own, I found myself halfway up the temple steps. The final staircase led into the chapel itself, but what interested me more was found beside it…

It seemed to be a robot of sorts. Or rather, it used to be. Blackened with age and covered with advancing moss, the rusting shell of a once large autonomous being sat before me. It's central body was shaped like a hemisphere, with a cylindrical head and several spindly legs resembling a spider poked out of it. Intricate connected circle designs adorned the hull, and a small indentation in the head might've once contained an eye of sorts. I had no idea whether the robot had been friendly or hostile. Either way, I wasn't too anxious to meet one in person anytime soon, with only a few clubs and bats to defend myself.

I placed a foot on the side of the body segment, peering inside through broken slats in the metal. Inside I could just barely reach and remove a screw from the inner workings. Unlike the rest of the robot, the screw seemed brand new and still spun with little effort. Whoever had designed these things was clearly more advanced than anything else in this land, this… Hyrule. I only hoped, once again, that these mighty creations weren't used for evil intent. If they were, I could only imagine what would've become of this place…


End file.
